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Detainer proposal draws cheers, jeers

By Chris Lisinski, clisinski@lowellsun.com

Updated:
07/27/2017 10:20:47 AM EDT

BOSTON -- State representatives from the Greater Lowell area defended their new bill that would give police the power to detain immigrants solely at the request of federal authorities during a raucous Wednesday press conference interrupted by protesters.

Rep. James Lyons, an Andover Republican whose district covers part of Tewksbury, and Rep. Marc Lombardo, a Billerica Republican, submitted the bill Tuesday night with seven other representatives in support. Their move came in response to a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that under current state law, police have no authority to arrest and hold individuals solely because of a federal civil immigration detainer.

Meanwhile, the Baker administration announced late Wednesday it will be working on its own bill, allowing police to hold individuals on federal immigration detainers after they post bail for a state crime, or if they've previously been convicted of a violent crime such as murder or rape.

On a staircase inside the State House Wednesday morning, Lyons and Lombardo, along with other officials who support the bill, argued that the SJC ruling will enable widespread undocumented immigration to the state. Lyons said the bill was "100 percent" designed in response to the SJC ruling.

"I support legal immigration," Lombardo said. "What we don't support is the breaking of our federal immigration laws.

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About half a dozen protesters were in the crowd during the conference, and they frequently broke into chants of "keep hate out of our state."

Later, one of the lead protesters, Patricia Montes, told reporters she viewed the bill as "criminalizing" the immigrant community.

"That bill is hate and ignorance," said Montes, executive director of immigrant rights group Centro Presente. "The message that they are sending is that all of us (immigrants) are criminals, that all undocumented people in Massachusetts are criminals, rapists and drug dealers. That's not the case."

At times, officials used stark language -- including brief references to the 9/11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombings -- to argue that the SJC ruling damages public safety by preventing local police from arresting those with ICE detainers.

"How many more families have to lose loved ones because courts and government officials continue to look at obstacles to prevent law enforcement agencies from working with one another to keep the public safe?" said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.

Hodgson joined the Wednesday press conference along with Republican Reps. Shauna O'Connell of Taunton, Geoff Diehl of Whitman and Joseph McKenna of Webster.

Lyons said after filing the bill Tuesday, he anticipates other Republicans in the Legislature will come out in support. However, given that Democrats hold a 126-34 majority in the House of Representatives, Lyons acknowledged the bill needs bipartisan support to survive and urged his colleagues across the aisle to get on board.

"It's up to the Democrats," he said. "Every day the Democrats refuse to take action on this type of legislation, they're putting the citizens of Massachusetts at risk."

Montes, who spent most of the event holding a handwritten sign that read "I support immigrants," sparred with officials during the conference. She alleged that representatives supporting the bill are "violating basic human rights of immigrants.

Lyons, Lombardo and Hodgson all asked Montes on various occasions to stop interrupting. After some time, Lyons said to Montes, "You're not the boss here." At one point, a State House court officer stepped in and asked her to stop interrupting.

Lombardo began his remarks describing his great-grandparents' immigration from Italy before protesters chanted "keep ignorance out of our state." The representative then locked horns with Montes.

"The irony that you bring 'ignorance' up when you can't even have basic respect for someone who disagrees with you," Lombardo told Montes.

"You have no idea about how the immigration system is right now," she responded. "All of your family migrated to the U.S. years ago, decades ago, and it was very different."

"You are absolutely right it was different because my family followed the laws of the land," Lombardo replied.

The governor's bill announced late Wednesday would seek to reinstate a policy put in place by the Baker administration in June 2016 broadening the level of cooperation between State Police and federal immigration police.

The governor, who is returning from Colorado on Wednesday after several days of meetings with Republican governors, is expected to file the bill as soon as next week, just as the House and Senate are expected to begin their August recess.

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